 |
[email protected] |
 |
3275638434 |
 |
 |
| Paper Publishing WeChat |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Oh-Young Kwon
Full-Text PDF
XML 1442 Views
DOI:10.17265/1539-8080/2017.01.007
Whitley College, University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia
This article explores an inter-cultural reading of 1 Corinthians 8.4-6 from the political and ideological contexts of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (or North Korea; DPRK afterwards) today. The Pauline passage (1 Cor 8.4-6) indicates Roman imperialism and the Imperial cult(s) that had a heavy impact upon the life of people (including Christ-believers) in Roman Corinth of the first century CE. In Roman Imperial cult(s), the Roman emperors were worshipped as divine, and people in the Roman Empire were compelled (at least by social pressure) to honor them as gods. This notion is, to some extent, reflected in the Pauline language—“there may be so-called gods…on earth…there are many gods and many lords” (1 Cor 8.5). The Roman emperors would be seen as amongst these many gods and these many lords in the Pauline description. The DPRK’s culture and society is primarily shaped on the foundation of Juche ideology. The Juche literarily means “self-reliance” and emphasizes the DPRK’s independence from other countries in terms of its political, ideological, and economic systems. Furthermore, in this Juche ideology Kim Il Sung the founder of the DPRK’s communism is claimed as a divine figure, and the people of the DPRK are compelled to venerate and worship him. The discovery of such social, cultural, and religious similarities in the two polarizing contexts encourages me to attempt inter-cultural dialogues between the Christ-believers in first century Corinth and the people of the DPRK today, who appear to see the Juche ideology as the religion officially constituted and recognized in their country today. This attempt makes a contribution to recent Asian Biblical scholarship that would acknowledge and encourage Asian Christians and scholars to read Christian Scriptures from Asian cultural, social, religious, and political contexts.
Paul, Corinthians, inter-cultural reading, imperial cult(s), Jucheideology, North Korea
Bae, K., & Tabb, M. (2016). Not forgotten: The true story of my imprisonment in North Korea. Nashville: W Publishing.
Byrne, B. (1996). Romans. Collegeville: Liturgical.
Chow, J. K. (1997). Patronage in Roman Corinth. In R. A. Horsley (Ed.), Paul and empire: Religion and power in Roman imperial society (pp. 104-125). Harrisburg: Trinity International.
Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2006). The structure and argument of 1 Corinthians: A biblical/Jewish approach. New Testament Studies, 52, 205-218.
Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010). The first letter to the Corinthians. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Nottingham: Apollos.
Demick, B. (2014). Nothing to envy: Real lives in North Korea. London: Granta Publications.
Drought sparks fears of worsening food shortage in N. Korea. (2015, June 18). Retrieved from https://www.yahoo.com/news/drought-sparks-fears-worsening-food-shortages-n-korea-115723895.html?ref=gs
Dudley, D. R. (1962). The civilization of Rome. NY; Toronto: A Mentor Book.
Dyer, K. (2016). Eating words in the New Testament. In A. Cadwallader (Ed.), Stones, bones, and the sacred: Essays on material culture and ancient religion in honor of Dennis E. Smith (pp. 69-84). Atlanta: SBL Press.
Ferguson, E. (1987). Backgrounds of early Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Goodman, M. (2007). Rome & Jerusalem: The clash of ancient civilizations. London: Penguin.
Gradel, I. (2002). Emperor worship and Roman religion. Oxford Classic Monographs; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hultgren, A. J. (2011). Paul’s letter to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Johnson, L. A. (2006). Paul’s epistolary presence in Corinth: A new look at Robert W. Funk’s apostolic Parousia. Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 68, 481-501.
Juche ideology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.law.columbia.edu/course_00S_L9436_001/North%20Korea%20materials/3.html
Kang, C. H., & Rigoulot, P. (2006). The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten years in the North Korean Gulag. London: Atlantic Books.
Kang, W. J. (1997). Christ and Caesar in modern Korea: A history of Christianity and politics. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Kim, S. (2008). Christ and Caesar: The gospel and the Roman empire in the writings of Paul and Luke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Kwon, O. Y. (2010, August). 1 Corinthians 1-4: Reconstructing its social and rhetorical situation and re-reading it cross-culturally for Korean–Confucian Christians today. Eugene: Wipf and Stocks.
Kwon, O. Y. (2010, June). Discovering the characteristics of collegia–collegia sodalicia and collegia tenuiorum in 1 Corinthians 8, 10 and 15. Horizons in Biblical Theology, 32, 166-182.
Lee, G. (2003). The political philosophy of Juche. Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, 3, 105-111.
Lee, H., & John, D. (2015). The girl with seven names: Escape from North Korea. London: William Collins.
Li, Y. S. (Ed.). (1997). Juche! The speeches and writings of Kim Il Sung. New York: Grossman.
Murphy-O’Connor, J. (2002). St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and archaeology (3rd ed.). Collegeville: The Liturgical Press.
Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (NKnet). (2015). NK human rights: A global perspective. Seoul: NKNet Press.
Newton, D. (1998). Deity and diet: The dilemma of sacrificial food at Corinth. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series, 169. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
North Korean Christians.com: The Juche idea. (2013). Retrieved from http://northkoreanchristians.com/juche-idea.html
Oberdorfer, D. (1997). The two Koreans. Mass: Addison Wesley.
Park, Y. (2016). In order to live: A North Korean girl’s journey to freedom. London: Penguin Books.
Pax Romana. (2015, December 8). Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu/Pax_Romana/
Petit, P. (1976). Pax Romana. LA: University of California Press.
Rhee, H. (2005). Early Christian literature: Christ and culture in the second and third centuries. London; NY: Routledge.
Schreiner, T. R. (1998). Romans: Baker exegetical commentary on the new testament. Grand Rapids: Baker.
Schwekendiek, D. (2011). A socioeconomic history of North Korea. Jefferson: McFarland.
Shotter, D. (1991). Augustus Caesar. London; NY: Routledge.
Smith, D. E. (2003). From symposium to Eucharist: The banquet in the early Christian world. Minneapolis: Fortress.
Song, J. (2011). Human rights discourse in North Korea: Post-colonial, Marxist and Confucian perspectives. London; NY: Routledge.
Stettler, C. (2006). The “Command of the Lord” in 1 Cor 14:37—A saying of Jesus? Biblica, 87, 42-51.
What can tourists expect when visiting North Korea?. (2013, December 13). Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/02/travel/north-korea-tourist-protocol
Wikipedia: Kim Il-sung. (2017, May 1). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Il-sung
Winter, B. W. (2001). After Paul left Corinth: The influence of secular ethics and social change. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Witherington, B III. (1995). Conflict & community in Corinth: A socio-rhetorical commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster.
Witherington, B III. (2001). New Testament history: A narrative account. Carlisle: Paternoster; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Yim, H. K. (2013). Gihdarim kwa suhduhrum uhi yuhksa: Hankook Jangrhokyoheh 130 yyuhn (History of waiting and hasty: 130 years of the Korean presbyterian church). Seoul: Korean Presbyterian Seminary Press.